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Copy 1 from The American Historical Review, Vol. X., No. i, Oct., 1904.] 

2. Some Papers of Franklin Pierce, 1852-1862. 

( First Installment. ) 

The following letters were found arnong the private papers and 
correspondence of President Franklin Pierce. For access to these 
papers and permission to publish such as are here presented grateful 
acknowledgments are due to the custodian of the originals, Hon. Kirk 
D. Pierce, nephew of President Pierce, an able and well-known 
lawyer residing in Hillsboro, N. H., the early home of the Presi- 
dent. The letters were copied, edited, and contributed to the Review 
by P. O. Ray, Instructor in History and Political Science of the 
Pennsylvania State College. 

I. Edmund Burke ^ to Franklin Pierce (Unsigned Copy). 

Confidential. Washington, April 9, 1852. 

My dear Sir : 

I came to this city about one fortnight ago on business connected with 
patents, now pending in Congress. And since I have been here I have 
had very considerable opportunity to learn the sentiments of politicians 
in relation to the next Democratic nomination for the Presidency. The 
three most prominent candidates for the nomination are Cass, Buchanan, 
and Douglass. Gen. Cass I think now has most friends although it seems 
to be the general impression that he can not get two-thirds of the Con- 
vention. Next to him Douglass is the most prominent. He has a good 
share of the Northwest to back him. After the Indiana delegation has 
given one vote for Gen. Lane they will go in for Douglass. So Wm. R. 
Brown tells me who is one of the Delegates at large. Tennessee and a 
portion of the Kentucky Delegation I understand will early come in to 
the support of Douglass. On the other hand, Mr. Buchanan seems to 
have but very little support out of Pennsylvania. Therefore, the struggle 
will be between Cass and Douglass. The old experienced politicians here 
are of the opinion that it will result in the defeat of both. Then of 
course the Convention will have to look about for a candidate among 
those who are not candidates directly for the nomination. Among these 
are Marcy, Dickinson, Butler, and Lynn Boyd, who are talked of. The 
two first will not unite the vote of N. Y., although the latter is very popu- 
lar at the South. Gen. Butler a high-toned chivalrous and sound man 
seems to be under a cloud here in consequence of the fact that Benton 

1 See Appleton's Cyclopcedia of American Biography. Burke had served severa 
terms in the House as a representative from New Hampshire, and had been Commissioner 
of Patents from 1846 to 1850. Shortly after Pierce's inauguration Burke became a bitter 
enemy of the administration, often attacking its policy in the columns of the New Hamp- 
shire State Capitol Reporter. So bitter was his assault upon Douglas and the administra- 
tion at the time when the Nebraska Bill was pending in Congress, that Douglas replied 
in a long letter, which appeared in the columns of the N'ew Hampshire Patriot and State 
Gazette (Concord), the organ of the administration in that state. 



Ill Dociiinciits 

Blair, and that class of politicians put him forward. I do not think it 
possible for him to survive this prejudice, and therefore I think that the 
N. H. Patriot has been too fast in putting him forward. Out of Ky. he 
seems to be the choice of nobody except the freesoilers of N. Y., and 
perhaps of Judge Bright of Indiana. And Lynn Boyd is not now a 
formidable candidate. 

Now in my judgment if at the proper time at the Convention you will 
allow your name to be used as a compromise candidate, you stand as good 
a chance of the nomination as any man I can now think of. 

In casual conversation I have asked southern gentlemen how you 
would suit the South and they have invariably responded most favorably. 
I am boarding with Col. Barbour, President of the late Virginia Demo- 
cratic Convention, and he says the South would cordially unite on you. 
He tells me that a majority of the Convention was for Buchanan in pre- 
ference to Cass or Douglass. There is another very intelligent gentleman 
boarding with me from Florida, by the name of Blunt. Mr. Atherton ^ 
knows him. I believe he is a Whig. But he says tjiat no Northern man 
would be more generally acceptable than yourself to the South. I have 
also talked with Floyd, M. C, from New York and he says both of the 
Democratic factions in that State would unite upon you. Hence I believe 
that you are among the very probable candidates for the Presidency, if 
you will allow your name to be used at the right time. 

But I must say frankly that you have not been quite free enough with 
your friends in relation to this subject. I can not learn as anyone knows 
what you would do or consent to have others do in reference to the 
nomination. You hold out the idea that there is no office you will again 
accept. Unless your determination never to accept of any office is irre- 
vocable, I think you should say that you pl-ace your destinies so far as the 
Presidency is concerned in the hands of your friends. 

I do not of course think it prudent to put you forward as a candidate 
for the Presidency until the three prominent candidates are first disposed 
of. If they shall all be defeated in the Convention, then your nanie 
should be put forward as a compromise candidate. 

You will see by the proceedings in the House ( which will be followed 
up in the Baltimore Convention) that our ticket has got to be entirely 
clear of freesoilism. The very general idea that the N. Y. freesoilers, 
Rantoul, Cleaveland, and others, hope to regain position in the Demo- 
cratic party by the election of Butler, kills off all his prospects. There- 
fore, in my firm belief the Fatriot has started off in a wrong track. 

I shall be here until the ist of May I think. I see our client Brown 
has run away. 

Yours truly, 

[Edmund Burke.] 

Gen. F. Pierce. 

' Charles G. Atherton, of New Hampshire, author of the " Gag Resolution ". See 
V, Burke to Pierce, June 6, 1852, p. 114. 



Sovie Papers of Franklin Pierce, 18^2-1862 [ 1 2 

II. Franklin Pierce to Edmund Burke (Unsigned Copy). 

Concord, Apl. 13, 1852. 
My deal' Sir : 

I received your letter of the 9th inst. last night and desire without 
delay to acknowledge it with my thanks. I am quite surprised that you 
should speak of my not having been free enough with my friends upon 
the subject of your letter. I wrote to Atherton as I thought and felt.^ 
What more had I apparently to say? Judging from what you say and 
what others have written within the last fortnight, the aspect of things 
has materially changed. The writing of that letter was a source of much 
dissatisfaction to my personal friends. But I deemed it a matter [of 
duty ?] as things then presented themselves one of which I alone could 
judge. My heart was full of gratitude to my State as it had been many 
times before, to overflowing but it was at the same time more full of de- 
votion to the party and I did not believe that N. H. or the National party 
had anything to gain by having my name in the list of aspirants. If you 
and my other discreet friends think (without reference to me personally) 
that the pride of our State, the success of the cause can be subserved by 
the use of my name then you must judge for me in view of all the circum- 
stances^, I wrote yesterday to my old friend French, ^ but hope he will 
confer with you and Norris^ and Hibbard* and Peaslee". I said to him 
in a hurry but more and more fully than I can say here. I must leave 
the matter to my friends at W. looking, as I am sure they will, to what 
is my duty and what may be the best interests of the party. 

It is now I o'clock at night and I am in the midst of an important 
trial. Our client Brown ran discreetly. Write me as soon as you receive 
this. 

Your friend 
Hon. Edmund Burke, [Franklin Pierce.] 

Washington, 1). C. 

P. S. I keep no copy and wish you would forward me one for I may 
need it in coming time. While I leave myself to my friends, they would 
desire me to keep my record clear, even if I had no such desire myself. 

Tuesday night, 2 o'clock. 

1 At a ratification meeting held at Concord, June lo, 1852, Colonel John H. George 
of Concord is reported to have said : " On the 8th of January last the Democratic Slate 
Convention of New Hampshire unanimously presented the name of General Franklin 
Pierce to the people of the nation as a candidate for the highest office in its gift. . . 
Immediately after the action of the last State Convention, General Pierce wrote his letter 
to Mr. Atherton declining to be a candidate for the Presidency and declaring that the use 
of his name in any event before the Democratic National Convention would be utterly 
repugnant to his tastes and wishes. . ." See the Patriot and Gazette (Concord), 
June 16, 1852. 

^ Probably William II. French, aide ile-cainp on General Pierce's staff during the 
Mexican War. 

^ Moses Norris, Jr., U. S. senator from New Hampshire. 

■• Harry Hibbard, a representative from New Hampshire. 

5 Charles H. Peaslee, representative from New Hampshire, 1847-1853. 



\ 



I 13 Documents . 

III. Edmund Burke to Franklin Pierce. 

Baltimore, June 5, 1852. 
Dear General. 

We are in great hopes of nominating you this morning. The thing 
is about ripe. We have intimations from the delegations from Pennsyl- 
vania and Virginia that they will soon lead off for you. The South will 
come in, so will Maine, Conn, and I think all N. E. Michigan will 
also. The prospects are more encouraging than ever. 

But you know the whole thing is contingent. So do not be too 
much elated. If God and the people give you the nomination and elec- 
tion, bear your honors calmly, meekly and with dignity. I have no 
doubt you will. You know I do not express opinions without a careful 
survey of the facts of the case. But in the opinion I now express I may 
be mistaken. We are all excited here and probably I may be more than 
usual. 

The convention is about to work. Adieu. In haste, 

Yours truly, 

Edmund Burke. 

IV. Edmund Burke to Franklin Pierce. 

Baltimore, June 5, 1852. 
Afternoon. 
Dear General. 

I wrote you this morning that in all probability you would be nomi- 
nated, and I said, if God and the people nominated and elected you, you 
must wear the transcendent honor with calmness, meekness and dignity, 
as becoming a true man and a Christian. I have no doubt you will. 
We have all done the best we could for you. We have pledged you 
to nothing except that you would be honest, faithful, true, discreet and 
just. We have no doubt you will fulfill all these pledges we have made 
for you. 

The scene in the convention was grand — sublime. The cannon 
has already heralded your success. Mighty destiny, be true to it. 

Gov. Dickinson tells me that New York will give you her vote by 
30,000. The enthusiasm is tremendous. You unite all clicpies. 

Now your biography must be written. Send me the materials at 
Washington and I will prepare it for you. I have made arrangements 
already with Dr. Hebbe, the author of the Universal History, a man of 
great talent and distinction and great influence with the German popula- 
tion, to undertake and publish it at once in that language. [Name illeg- 
ible] another German, will take the stump for you. I know these men 
well. They can do more for you with the foreign population than all 
others. 

I think I can serve you best by remaining at Washington a few days. 
I know men from every state in the Union. You will be elected. 

Yours truly, 
F. Pierce. Edmund Burke. 

AM. HIST. REV., VOL. X.— S. 



/ 



Sonic Papers of Franklin Pierce, 1 8 52-1862 1 14 

V. Edmund Burke to Franklin Pierce. 

Baltimore, June 6, 1852. 
Dear General. 

/ ' suppose by this time you have heard of the result of the deliberations 

/ National Democratic Convention and have become " calm as a 

iCr's morning". I think we did right in putting King on the 

/ Ket. You know he is Buchanan's bosom friend and thus a great and 

powerful interest is conciliated. Our nominations also please both wings 

of the Democratic party in New York. They were content with slaying 

each other and both will cordially unite on you. If Scott is nominated 

the great battle-ground will be in New York and Pennsylvania. The 

slave states will fall into our laps like ripe apples. I think your election 

is certain but I remember while I express my opinion, that all things 

pertaining to humanity are uncertain and therefore you upon whom the 

great honor has fallen must not be too elated or sanguine. You must 

prepare yourself for the result, whatever it may be. I think you will be 

elected because all cliques of the democracy are united on you as they 

were on Mr. Polk. 

I wrote you to send your minutes for a biography. It is wanted 
immediately. Perhaps I may not be able to stay at Washington long 
enough to prepare it and perhaps you may not desire that I should do it. 
If not, Gen. Peaslee will do it well and I will see Dr. Hebbe and tell 
him to translate it at once into German. I am anxious to get home to 
Concord on account of a certain event. May it not be best to postpone 
the election of Senator until fall? If you are elected will you not then 
desire the election of your own first choice among the candidates? In 
that event would not Mr. Atherton' be the best man for you in that 
body, through whom the administration can speak ? In the event of 
your election I, or one of the candidates, shall be glad to defer to your 
wishes. I have no doubt the Democratic members of the Legislature 
will now so far consult your wishes as to postpone the election, if you 
desire it. 

I shall remain a few days at Washington on business at the Patent 
and Pension offices, and while I am here I will do all I can to arrange 
things for the coming campaign. 

I am in correspondence with Kossuth and through Dr. Hebbe can do 
something with the foreign population. Kossuth has great influence with 
them and will naturally suppose without any assurance that a northern 
administration will sympathize more with the popular movement in 
Europe than a southern or Whig administration. Kossuth should be 
invited to New Hampshire, but should receive nothing from you but 
courtesies and civilities. I am also acquainted with the editor of the 
leading German paper in the United States and have promised to see 

' Charles G. Atherton, reelected to the Senate in November, 1852. Died Novem- 
ber, 1853. 



1 1 5 Documents 

him on my return home through New York. We can do much through 
these channels. I expect to see you soon. 

In haste yours truly, 

Edmund Burke. 
Gen. F. Pierce. 

VI. Edmund Burke to Franklin Pierce. 
Confidential. , 

Hon. Franklin Pierce, Washington, June 8, 1852. 

My dear Sir. 

I write to-day in relation to a matter personal to ourselves. Mr. 
Houston, Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means told me yester- 
day that he had been informed on good authority, that you were hostile 
to me, in fact, my enemy. When 1 was here in April last, I had a letter 
from a gentleman in New Hampshire informing me of the same fact and 
that the cause of it was some article in the Argus and Spectator ; and in 
consequence you were opposed to my election to the Senate. Before re- 
ceiving this letter, I had written to you my first letter in relation to your 
prospects for the Presidential nomination and received your reply ; and 
the frankness and confidence expressed in the latter, led me at once to 
treat the intimation I had received as an idle rumor. Immediately after 
an intimate friend and relation of the gentleman who first wrote me, 
addressed a letter to me informing me that it was a mistake, and that you 
were not unfriendly to me. But the intimation from the Chairman of 
the Committee of Ways and Means, upon which I had supposed there was 
one of my personal friends from N. H. leads me to suspect that some one 
has not understood your relations with me and has given a wrong im- 
pression in regard to them ; or that I have myself misunderstood the 
true spirit which has dictated your letters to me, as well as our personal 
interview at Newport. I believe that you have been misrepresented to 
Mr. Houston. But however it may be, I have no doubt you will have 
the frankness to say honestly and truly what your sentiments toward me 
are. If they be even as Mr. Houston has been informed, it will make 
no difference in the humble support I shall give to your nomination. I 
shall do all in my humble power to secure your election. That I owe to 
the great cause to which I have always been attached. But it may make 
some difference in the course I ought to pursue to accomplish that very 
object. It is more than probable that I shall be fixed upon to assume the 
editorial work of the Union ' newspaper during the canvass. I seem to 
be the almost unanimous choice of our party in Congress for that position. 
But the consciousness that we are not friends, and that I was aiding to 
elevate my personal enemy to the White House, might dampen my ardor 
in the conflict, although I should do my best to prevent it. These con- 
siderations, if they are founded in fact, would render it very improper for 

' Tilt' Washington Union (daily). See VIII, Pierce to Burke, June 14, 1852, p. 
117. Burke was campaign editor of the Union during the late summer and autumn of 1852. 



Sojuc Papers of FranJdin Pierce, 1852-1862 1 1 6 

me to take charge of the Union. The heart of the editor of that paper 
should go into the conflict with no secret sadness nor grief.— But for the 
good of our cause, which must triumph in this contest, I should not be 
the editor of the Union if our relations are really such as have been inti- 
mated to me since I have been in this city. 

From the first moment I saw the prospect dawning for you, I have 
done my utmost to accomplish the great result. Your nomination was 
effected precisely as I supposed it must be if at all. I never had but one 
opinion about it. But 1 claim no credit to myself in bringing about this 
result. All your friends from N. H. did all in their power to accom- 
plish it. My extensive acquaintance with the politicians of the Union 
gave me, perhaps, some advantage over other of your friends. There 
was not a delegation in the Convention in which there were not more or 
less members with whom I was acquainted. I have a pretty extensive 
acquaintance with leading German politicians, and editors, both native 
and naturalized. These were of some benefit to us, and I shall avail 
myself of this acquaintance to bring the foreign vote so far as possible to . 
the support of our cause. 

An4 finally whatever may be said and done by jealous and rival poli- 
ticians in N. H. their calumnies cannot shake my standing with the 
Democracy of the Union. Most of them will have to work hard as I 
have done before they attain to the same position before the country at 
large. I have been free and full in this letter. For your good and that 
of our cause we ought to know how we stand in relation to each other, 
in order that I may not get into any position which will in the remotest 
degree affect unfavorably our great cause, which must now triumph, or it 
will fall not to rise again for a quarter of a century. 

Your nomination is received with great enthusiasm. It unites all 
factions of our party and seems to inspire every one with confidence in 

our success. 

I am, very truly your friend etc, 

Edmund Burke. 

Gen. F. Pierce. 

VII. Edmund Burke to Franklin Pierce. 

Washington, June 10, 1852. 

My dear Sir : 

Yesterday Mr. Ritchie ' placed in my hands a letter from Robert G. 
Scott, Esq., of Richmond in relation to your answer to his letter addressed 
to the different Presidential candidates. I handed the letter to Gen. 
Peaslee to be communicated to you in the belief that it might be of some 
use to you in framing your reply to the letter of the committee appointed 
to inform you of your nomination. " 

1 Thomas Ritchie, editor of 77/^ Washington Union. 

-iThis committee consisted of J. S. Barbour, J. Thompson, Alpheus Field, and 
Pierre Soule. The letter of notification referred to is still in existence. 



117 Docmiiejits 

The western men are also a little alarmed in consequence of your 
votes upon the River and Harbor appropriations while in Congress, 
which the Republic newspaper has collected and published. Perhaps 
this is a matter which it would be expedient for you to consider in your 
reply. The western men think the Whigs will argue to the people that 
you will veto all bills whatever for the improvement of Harbors and 
Rivers, which would make your election an uphill business in the West. 
On the other hand some western members, including Douglass and Rich- 
ardson of Illinois and Dunham of Indiana, think it will not hurt you at all. 

But those who think it will injure you in the West, say that if in your 
reply to the Committee you could in some general phraseology say that 
you entered public life during the- eventful administration of Gen. Jack- 
son whose principles you have ever maintained, referring to his course 
upon Internal Improvements, but finally coming down upon the Balti- 
more platform, as your true position, it would be well. They say they 
can stand up to a man to the principles of Gen. Jackson on that subject, 
but they cannot fully to the doctrine of Mr. Polk's veto message. You 
can and will weigh these matters carefully and deliberately and make 
such reference to them as you deem expedient or none at all. 

The ratification meeting in this city last night was the largest I ever 
saw here. Messrs. Cass, Houston, Lane, Davis and others spoke. 
Father Ritchie ^ made a few remarks. These facts show that our party 
are thoroughly united and determined to win. 

By judicious management all the foreign populations can be brought 
to your support. Dr. Hebbe the distinguished Swedish scholar, left for 
N. York yesterday to address the German societies in that city. He has 
also written to many of the leading German editors in Pennsylvania and 
elsewhere. And this morning I received a prospectus for a new paper 
in the Welsh language to be published in Pottsville, Pa. It will be the 
first one in the United States. It is endorsed by Hon. F. W. Hughes, 
Secretary of State for Pennsylvania. 

Yours truly, 

Edmund Burke 
Hon. Franklin Pierce. 

VIII. Franklin Pierce to Edmund Burke (Copy). 

Concord N H 

June 14, 1852 '' 
My dear sh- : 

I returned from my journey to-day and hasten to answer your letter 
of June 8th wh I found an hour since among a large package awaiting 
my arrival. 

In the first place I should like to know M!' Houston's authority. But 
without that, I will proceed to set matters right so far as we are con- 

1 Thomas Ritchie of the Union. 

2 Either this letter, or the reply of Burke (IX), perhaps each, is misdated. The 
error, however, is one of only a few days. 



Some Papers of Franklin Pierce. 18^2-1862 1 1 8 

cerned. I can state distinctly, that the charge that 1 am yr. enemy has, 
so far as 1 know, no foundation in any act or word of mine. I had 
heard prior to the receipt of your letter in April that you were evidently 
unfriendly to me, and thai if I desired to be brought before the National 
Convention, my first object should be to conciliate you. I uniformly 
replied, ist, That I did not seek to be a candidate ; 2d. That if it were 
otherwise, I would not turn on my heel to conciliate any man; and 3d. 
That I could not conceive that you were hostile, because I had always 
understood our relations to be of a friendly character. Your letter of 
April assured me that I had not misjudged and I supposed that we under- 
stood each other. 

When I was informed of the controversy between yourself and Mr. 
Butterfield/ 1 expressed my deep regret, but was determined not to be in 
any way involved in it. I have not read the articles on either side, but 
I heard your first article freely commented on, and stated that if you had 
■made a general assault upon the politicians of Concord, charging them 
with being under the influence of corporations and desiring to dictate to 
other parts of the State, such charges were groundless and unjustifiable, 
and in this I think few true men would differ with me. You have never 
been assailed by me. No act or word of mine justifies the charge. Now 
for the authority ! What is charged and by whom ? 

I have received several letters from different gentlemen in relation to 
the " (T)--/!?// " ^ and matters connected therewith. As I understand the 
matter, it is a subject about which it would be neither politic nor just for 
me to speak. The democratic party have nominated me. They have 
presented a platform upon which I am willing to stand. I would not 
presume to enlarge or narrow it. The manner in wh., and the instru- 
mentality through which, the nomination is to be sustained, must be left 
entirely to others. I shall not attempt to control, nor shall I, as at ])res- 
ent advised, permit myself even to suggest. 

I thank you for your frankness. It is the only way to maintain 
proper relations between friends personal or political. 

Your friend, 

Frank Pierce. 

IX. Edmund Burke to Franklin Pierce. 

Washington, June 14, 1852. 
Hon. Franklin Pierce 
My dear Sir, 

1 have deferred answering your letter of the 14th inst. until I could 
see Mr. Houston and learn from him the author of the intimation which 
he made to me and to which I referred in my letter of the 8th inst. I 
have not been able to see him until to-day, and I made enquiry of him in 
relation to the matter. He says he can not now recall to mind the per- 

^ Editor of the Al-w Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette, published at Concord. 

2 See VI, P.urke to Pierce, June 8, 1S52, p. 115. 



1 1 9 Dociiiucnis 

son from whom he derived the impression that we were not on friendly 
terms. He says he and several other gentlemen were discussing the pro- 
priety of my taking the editorial charge of the Union newspaper when 
some one remarked that it might not be agreeable to you for we were 
opposed to each other in our State politics. Mr. Houston says it was 
from this remark that he got the impression which he stated to me. But 
it is now of no account. Your letter leaves no ground for me to doubt 
that our personal relations are now, as they have always been, friendly. 
I am aware that it was unnecessary for you to court the favor of any man — 
a more fortunate position than that in which most men are placed — but 
I have never acted in bad faith with regard to your nomination. I wrote 
you fully and frankly from this city in April last, what I thought the 
condition of things was here. I expressed then, as I did after my return 
to New Hampshire by letter, and orally in our personal interview at 
Newport, my belief in the great probability of your nomination, and how 
it was to be brought about. And I steadily acted with that end in view. 
I knew it was not policy to bring you out as a candidate for the nomina- 
tion at the outset, and that you could only be nominated as a compromise 
candidate, and in this our whole delegation, I believe, agreed and we 
acted accordingly. And, of course, you owe your nomination to no one 
of us, nor to any particular man, but to your own position and a fortunate 
combination of circumstances, the noble character of the Granite State 
having some little weight in the matter. 

I am aware that the Concord people, and I count Mr. Butterfield 
among the foremost of them, circulated the story during the late session 
of the Legislature that I was opposed to your nomination to the last, and 
that it was made against my wishes and active opposition. This is a 
base calumny for which there is not one particle of foundation, and I 
have no doubt your sense of justice will induce you to correct it. At 
any rate, I intend that it shall be taken back by those who put it afloat. 
If I had been opposed to you in the critical period when a slight circum- 
stance might have defeated you, humble as I am, if I had been so disposed, 
perhaps I might have accomplished it. I knew more men in that Con- 
vention than any other man from our State, and without vanity I think I 
may say that my standing with the Democracy of this nation is as good 
as that of any other delegate from N. H. If I had used the advantages 
which these circumstances gave me, at one time, possibly I might have 
had some influence on the result. They were all however used to pro- 
mote your success, and not to prevent it. But enough on this point. 

As to the quarrel between the Argus and Patriot, I understood from 
Mr. Baldwin, and now understand from yourself that you do not take 
part in it. I was glad to be thus assured of what I before believed was 
the truth about the matter. 

As to the statements made in the first article in the Argus, I am not 
aware that they are untrue. The two leading statements are that Col. 
George did not carry the late election in N. H. as claimed by the Patriot ; 
and that a portion of the Democrats of Concord were too much connected 



Soiuc Papers of Franklin Pierce, 18^2—1862 i 20 

with corporations, and gave their countenance to corporate influence. 
Those statements were not published in the Argus until they had first 
been shown to leading democrats out of Sullivan Co. who concurred in 
them. I believe them to be true, and I stand by the truth without fear 
or favor from any man. If the records of various corporations at Concord 
and the history of our past legislature does not bear out what I say, then 
I will retract, but there is no power on earth that will make me retract 
what I believe to be true. I know a great many of the soundest and best 
democrats in New Hampshire concur with the Argus and with myself in 
this belief. The Argus has sustained in this controversy precisely the 
same principles which it sustained fifteen years ago, when it had the cor- 
dial support and encouragement of yourself and your venerated father. 
It has not changed on this matter of corporations. It did not move or 
change when the Patriot, and a large portion of the Democratic Party 
gave way on the Wilmot Proviso. And it will stand by its principles 
and flag, if it stands alone, no matter by whom it may be denounced. 
But I have dwelt longer on this topic than I intended. 

Before .this reaches you, you will have learned that Gen. Scott has 
been nominated. The nomination of Graham, with the platform, will 
generally unite the Whigs of the South. I think, with Gen. Scott's great 
and undisputed military services, it will require some effort on the part 
of the Democracy to beat him. I am afraid our friends have been all too 
confident of success. They seem to take it for granted that we are to 
carry the election. I cannot learn that they are doing much. They are 
not going into the combat with the promptness and energy which the 
occasion demands. I do not think our Central Executive Committee is 
made up of the right sort of men. Robert McLane of Baltimore is 
Chairman. He is a man of talents, but I think he has not the industry 
nor the practical experience necessary for getting up good political tracts. 
Dr. Gwin is also a man of ability and good sound sense, but he has too 
much California business to attend to. And Messrs. Edgerton and Penn 
[?] of the House, are neither of them the right sort of men for such 
duties as will devolve on the Executive Committee. Ten days ago I 
placed in the hands of the Committee a proposition with regard to the 
establishment of a Welsh paper in Pottsville, Pa. I had secured a letter 
from Col. Hughes, Secretary of State of Pennsylvania, with regard to the 
subject, and also communications from other gentlerpen of that State. 
I supposed the matter would be attended to, but so far from that, on 
-Monday last Mr. Penn [?] told me the Committee had not organized. 
Our friends here seem to think the battle is to be won without fighting. 

I have had some opportunity to observe the effect of Scott's nomina- 
tion, and am satisfied that it will very generally unite the \Vhig party. 
Many of the delegates from the South are now in the city, and I find that 
the adoption of a platform and the nomination of Graham has removed 
their objections to Scott, and all those Whig politicians in Congress, who 
have not so far committed themselves against Scott that they cannot 
honorably back out, will go in for him. I understand Gen. Dawson of 



I 2 I Dociiuients 

Ga. has already given in his adhesion. I am satisfied that the Whig 
party will be united under Scott and that with his unquestionably great 
military reputation and long public service he will be a hard candidate to 
beat. Therefore I think it is time for our party to lay aside the delusion 
that we are to gain an easy victory, and make up our minds for one of 
the hardest contests we have ever had I believe we shall be successful if 
we fight the battle as we ought. If we do not we shall be beaten. 

I dined in company with Mr. Soule and other gentlemen yesterday. 
Mr. S. spoke of his interview with you, and in the most complimentary 
terms of yourself. 1 think he was most agreeably disappointed. Col. 
Barbour also was highly delighted with his acquaintance with you. Both 
he and Mr. Soule not only spoke most favorably of your deportment as a 
gentleman, but of your unblemished character and your knowledge of 
public affairs. I think it was very well that the Committee^ visited you 
in person. 

I have mentioned the name of Dr. Hebbe to you in former letters. 
His connection with and great influence over the foreign population, make 
it important to have him take the right course in this election. He is a 
Swede, by birth, and a man of profound learning and high character. 
He was educated in Germany and was expelled that country on account 
of his liberal principles. He is intimate with Kossuth, and other dis- 
tinguished characters engaged in the European popular movements. He 
is a thorough and philosophical democrat and espouses our side from a 
conviction of its intrinsic merits. He has succeeded in bringing out 
several leading German papers in support of our nominations, which took 
a neutral position in consequence of Cass' defeat. He has also been to 
New York and addressed the foreign trade societies in that city urging 
upon them the support of our ticket. And being by birth a Scandinavian 
he desires to go through Iowa, Wisconsin, and other States of the West 
in which most of the Swedes, Norwegians and Danes reside, and address 
them before the election. He will also during the summer make you a 
visit, in order that he may speak to his countrymen of his personal knowl- 
edge of you. Mr. Fleischmann, a German, who was my principal draughts- 
man in the Patent Office, and recently consul at Wurtemberg, a man also 
of very great learning and attainments, has also assured me that he will 
stump it through the German regions. He will also visit you this sum- 
mer for the same reason assigned by Dr. Hebbe. Ihe grand ideas which 
are to be most potent in this election are sympathy for the liberals of 
Europe, the expansion of the Republic southward and westward and the 
grasping of the magnificent [prize? illegible] of the commerce of the 
Pacific — in short the ideas of which the term 'Young America' is the 
symbol. Both Hebbe and Fleischmann and Mr. Soule and the young 
men of the Republic have these ideas moving them deeply. 

As to the subject suggested in my letter by [illegible] Mr. French 
has written a sketch of your life which he read to Mr. Hubbard and myself 

1 See VII, Burke to Pierce, June lo, 1852, p. 116, note 2. 



Scvnc Papers of Franklin Pierce, 18^2-1862 122 

before he sent it away to be published. It was very well, but not suffi- 
ciently full and strong on some points. There is also a sketch of your 
life for sale at the book stores prepared, I understand, by Lester of New 
York.. That is too expensive. We want a strong pointed biography in 
pamphlet form to be widely circulated by members of Congress. And 
we want also a good likeness of you. None has yet appeared. If you 
had sent me a daguerreotype engravings from it would have been on sale 
ten days ago. We want a biography to be translated into German. As 
I shall leave the city as soon as I can close up some business at the Patent 
Office I shall not now have time to attend to any of these matters. Pardon 
me this very long letter and believe me 

ever yours truly, 

Edmund Burke. ^ 

X. G. C. Hebbe to Edmund Burke. 

Honorable Ed. Burke. Washington City July 15th 1852. 

Dear Sir 

I have many times already had great reasons to wish that you had 
remained here and lent your energy to the Central Committee which acts 
with deplorable imbecility. It was a great misfortune that you did. not 
become a member of that Committee, and a no less one that you are not 
Editor of the Union. I have had several conferences with Dr. Gwin 
and Hon Mr. Senn [Penn?], but the committee has not yet co'lected 
so much money that it has dared to grant aid to those papers which I 
have recommended to its patronage. The Committee committed the 
blunder to ordera Philadelphia paper to publish 25,000 copies in German 
of the life of General Pierce — when this order ought to have been given 
to Mr. Newman as recommended by myself — I told Mr. Penn yesterday 
that if Mr. Forney's advice is to be taken on such matters — the com- 
mittee has to take upon themselves the responsibility of the consequences. 
The paper to which this order was given — is very influential in Penn- 
sylvania — , but there is now much less hope to carry that State than 
New York — : and consequently all ought to be done to secure the latter 
State — in which we have more hope to succeed — But it appears as the 
interests of certain individuals are to be promoted at hasard even to see 
the party defeated — 

1 Further information relating to the ante-convention movements which brought about 
Pierce's nomination is to be found in the files of the Boston Daily Advertiser (Whig) for 
November, 1853, and of the Arkansas Whig for December, 1853. These articles are 
based upon Burke's ovi'n story of how the " mysterious" nomination was effected, which 
appeared in the State Capitol Reporter (Concord) in October, 1853. For this paper, 
which was a violent anti-administration organ, Burke was for the time an editorial writer. 
Burke's story may also be found quoted in The New Hampshire Statesman (Concord) 
for October 29, 1853. In January, 1904, an article appeared in The Minneapolis Journal 
which sheds further light upon the nomination. The Writer, a law-student in Concord in 
1852, boarded in the same family with one Henry P. Rolfe, then a student in the law- 
office of Minot and Pierce, and bases his statements upon conversations taking place be- 
tween himself and Rolfe on the day when the New Hampshire delegation left Concord 
for Baltimore. 



123 Dociiinents 

I have had letters from Gen. Kossuth — in which he complains much 
of the deception which certain persons of the Democratic party have 
made themselves guilty of in regard to himself — and I have had the 
utmost difficulty in preventing him from taking steps which would un- 
doubtedly have led to the disorganization and defeat of the Democratic 
party — I hope that General Pierce's letter to the Democrats of Phila- 
delphia has satisfied Gen Kossuth at least to some degree — still I 
know that he expected from Gen. Pierce a still more explicit avowal in 
regard to the course of foreign policy which this country ought to pursue 
— , but I think, that the General could not say more in the present state 
of affairs 

I have written an urgent appeal to the adopted citisens of Scandi- 
navian birth to support General Pierce, and I hope that this appeal which 
appeared in the " Skandinoven " of last Saturday will have a good effect 
and give General Pierce at least 10,000 votes from that quarter. 

I have also written about 35 letters to several German pajjers — and 
to English papers — urging upon the readers of these papers the necessity 
and duty to sustain the Democratic nominees — I intend to sail for 
Europe on Saturday from New York — but hope to return before the ist 
of Sept. when I will have the honor to visit you and then begin to stump 
the States of New "York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa — 
From Europe I will transmit several letters to papers in these Slates in 
order to advocate the success of our party — 

I am a democrat at heart because I consider that party — notwith- 
standing its many defects as the only one which at present can do any 
practical good for the advance of freedom throughout the world — I am, 
however, sorry to see that the influence of the South is preponderant 
here in Washington — • It is a great mistake to think that the South can 
accomplish the victory of the Democratic party — when on the contrary 
it is clear that the result will chiefly depend upon the votes of the northern 
and western states — , where the votes of the adoptive citisens are de- 
cisive — 

I have from Gen. Kossuth that General Pierce has promised to visit 
New York — and I hope that he will do so — as such a visit would prob- 
ably do much to influence the people of that State. 

I hope that you will exercise all your energy in behalf of the Demo- 
cratic party — as I am fully convinced that you can do much for the 
success of our cause in the present struggle— I should be very glad to 
hear from you before my departure — and I think that a letter addressed 
to me ^care of Nicholas Day 74 Wall Street New York — would reach 
me before the departure of the steamer on Saturday. 

I have the honor to remain with the most sincere regards, 

Dear Sir 

Yours most truly, 
G. C. Hebbe. 

In sfreat haste. 



Some Papers of Fraiiklin Pierce, 18^2-1862 124 

XI. James Campbell to Arthur S. Nevitt.^ 

Post Office Department, 
March i, 1856. 
Sir : 

I have thought it my duty to send you the enclosed copies of papers 
which have just been placed on file in this department. Not so much to 
satisfy myself upon any point made against you as to furnish the occasion 
for a statement calculated to satisfy all unprejudiced minds. 

If there are persons in your office who sympathize with a political 
party hostile to the Democratic Party, and bound by secret oaths to 
principles contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution under 
which we live, you should know them and should neither employ them 
nor trust them. 

I desire something more than a mere statement of your employees, 
that at a given time they do not belong to a Know-nothing organization. 
Have they been Know-nothings? Do they sympathize with that politi- 
cal organization? Is your chief clerk a Whig with Know-nothing sym- 
pathies ? What was his action at the last election ? 

If you cannot answer these questions with confidence and satisfaction, 
changes must be made. Reformation in the ofiice is due not only to the 
Department, but to yourself. 

I wish you would answer promptly and fully. 

I am, respectfully, 

Your obt. servant, 

James Campbell. 
Arthur S. Nevitt, Esq., 
(P. M.) New Orleans, La. 

XII. John W. Geary- to Franklin Pierce. 
Confidential. Executive Department, 

Lecompton, Kansas Territory, 
December 22nd 1856. 
His Excellency, 

Franklin Pierce, President. 
My Deal' Sir : 

The removal of Donaldson,' Clark and LeCompte* has been received 
here with general acclamations by the people, and men recently disposed 
to vilify and abuse you are loud in your praise. None blame you except 
those interested in having certain crimes laid in oblivion. 

It is my duty to speak frankly and honestly to you, and from time 
to time I have done so without prejudice, fear or favor. The Country 

' This letter is apparently in Pierce's handwriting, but is signed in lead-pencil, 
"James Campbell", and addressed to Arthur S. Nevitt, Postmaster, New Orleans, La. 
'2 Governor of Kansas Territory. 

^ J. B. Donaldson, U. S. marshal for Kansas Territory. 
* Samuel D. Lecompte, Chief Justice of Kansas Territory. 



12 5 Documents 

should know, and if I live long enough, it shall know, that the censure 
which has been heaped upon your administration for mismanagement in 
Kansas affairs is not attributable to you, but is the consequence of the 
criminal complicity of public officers some of whom you have removed 
the moment you were clearly satisfied of their true position. 

I could not have credited it, unless I had seen it with my own eyes, 
and had the most conclusive evidence of the fact, that public officers 
would have lent themselves to carry out schemes which at once set at 
naught every principle of right and justice upon which the equality and 
existence of our government is founded. You know that there is no 
man in the Union, that more heartily despises the contracted creed of 
the abolitionists than I do, or more clearly perceives the pernicious 
tendency of their doctrines, and on this question I trust I am an impar- 
tial judge. The persecutions of the free-state men here was not exceeded 
by those of the early christians. I am not their vindicator, and wish not 
to extenuate the numerous outrages committed by them, the perpetrators 
of which, in due time, I will endeavor to bring, as well as others, to con- 
dign punishment, but I do say that the men holding official position have 
never given you that impartial information on the subject so necessary to 
form correct conclusions, which your high position so imperatively 
demanded. I wish not to speak of the injudicious and criminal proceed- 
ings of some of the emigrant aid societies and of the fanaticism which called 
some of them into existence, there are persons better versed in the origin 
of these movements who can explain them better than myself, but occu- 
pying the confidential and official relations I do to yourself, which at 
your pleasure I am most v/illing to lay at your feet, it is necessary that I, 
especially, should do "equal and exact" justice to that side of the 
question. 

Let us go back then to the origin of the Kansas difficulty and see 
what was the agitating cause, or causes, and let us candidly examine 
whether or not oin- friends were faultless. 

From the most reliable information I am satisfied that there was a 
settled determination in higli quartets to make this a Slave State a I all 
hazards ; that policy was communicated to agents here, and that most of 
the public officers sent here were secured for its success. The conse- 
quence was that when Northern emigrants came here at an early day, 
ez^en before the emigrant aid societies began to excite public attention, 
that certain persons along the borders of Missouri began to challenge 
unexceptionable settlers, and finding many not for a slave state, they 
were subjected to various indignities, and told that this soil, which pre- 
vious to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was devoted to freedom, 
did not belong to such as them, and that they must settle in Nebraska. 

These immagrants, highly conservative in their character, excited b'y 
this unjust treatment, wrote back to their friends in the North and thus 
by a little indiscretion on the part of overzealous persons in Missouri a 
spark was ignited which nearly set the whole country in a flame. This 
virulent spirit of dogged determination to force slavery into this Terri- 



Sovic Papers of Franklin Pierce, 18^2-1862 126 

tory, has overshot its mark and raised a storm which nothing but an 
honest return to the beneficent provisions of our Organic Act can quell. 
Lecompte, Donaldson, Clarke, Woodson', CALHOUN' and Isaacs' 
were prominent actors in this fearful tragedy and willing tools to carry 
out this wicked policy. They have therefore destroyed their public useful- 
ness, and their removal would be hailed with a tumult of joy by the entire 
population. But well do 1 appreciate your position in the matter and 
beyond your own sense of justice and propriety I would not desire you 
to go. Could it be done, it would restore you to that position in the 
popular affections which you so justly occupied at the period of your 
Inauguration. 

I was much surprised and somewhat amused to learn to-day that 
Clark, the ex-agent, had just received a letter from Genl. Whitfield* in 
which the latter says that you told him that all the odium brought on 
your administration was the dire result of Clark's, Whitfield's, Atchi- 
son's,^ Stringfellow's,'^ and others' indiscreet action. Why Whitfield 
would write thus when he owes his seat to you and me, 1 know not, but 
I am sure that he never penned a greater truth. 

In your whole administration which has been remarkably eventful 
there is not a shadow of complaint except this Kansas Matter over which, 
with the dearth of reliable information, you could exercise little influ- 
ence. Almost every public officer here, necessarily the channels of in- 
formation, conspired to give you ex parte and prejudiced statements. 
It was natural and generous that you should believe men professing to be 
your friends in preference to others notoriously your enemies. 

There is a plan in Westport, Mo. to invade the Territory with about 
1000 men, to take possession of the "Shawnee Reserve", about the 
20th of Feby. The Indian agent lives there. Calhoun has been there jo 
or fifteen days. Can't you blow this conspiracy out of water? 

On the Shanee [sic'] Reserve, after the Indians have made their 
selections, there will remain about 1500 quarter sections for preemption. 

I thank you for the firm and prompt manner with which you have 
sustained my policy and seconded my suggestions in the removal of the 
men indicated, and I earnestly trust you will be seconded in the good 
work. 

' Daniel Woodson, secretary of the tertitory under Reader, acting governor upon 
Reader's removal, secretary under Governor Shannon, and again acting governor upon 
Shannon's resignation. 

2 John Calhoun, surveyor-general of Kansas Territory. Instrumental in prejudi 
the administration against Geary. See Rhodes, II, 239. 

3 Isaacs, U. S. district attorney for Kansas Territory. See Davis to Pierce, 
23. 1857, to appear in the Review for January, 1905. 

*]. W. Whitfield, elected Delegate to Congress by the pro-slavery party, November 
29, 1854. 

5 David R. Atchison, previously senator from Missouri. 

5B p Stringfellow, co-editor of the Squatter Sovereign, published at Atchison, 
Kansas, which professed to be the organ of the Washington government in western 

Missouri. 



icini 



ulv 



I 2 7 Docuiucnts 

I can, and will with the aid of the National Goverm't., make Kansas 
a model state, enriched with Democratic Institutions based upon the 
Constitution of the U. S., and blessed with all the rich treasures of 
learning, ennobled by virtue, intelligence and enterprise of the millions 
of freemen whom its exuberantly fertile soil is capable of supporting. 
After you have laid aside the cares of State, if I am called to remain 
here, I want you to give me the pleasure of a visit to Kansas. I will 
make a tour with you through the Territory. The salubrity of the cli- 
mate, the beauty of the country and the warm reception I promise you 
from our generous people will compensate you for the trip. 

With the assurance of my high regards I am devotedly your friend 
and obedient servant, 

Tno. W. Geary. 



[Reprinted from The American Historical Review, Vol. X., No. 2, Jan., 1905.] 



Sojne Papers of Franklin Pierce, 1832-1862, 

( Second Installment. ) 

XIII. Hon. John W. Geary to President Pierce. 

Private. Lecompton, Kansas Territory, 

January 12"' 1857. 
His Excellency, Franklin Pierce. 
My dear Sir : 
Your friendly letter of the 12th ult :, by the hands of Col : Winston^ 
has been received. 

I thank you, not only for your many personal assurances of confi- 
dence, but also for your public and decided approval of my official action. 
Next to my personal honor and the approbation of my conscience, 
I value the success of your administration and hold sacred the delicate 
trust confided to me. 

"Be so just and true to the right that no man can challenge your 
impartiality", is an instruction so eminently just that it meets a warm 
response in my heart and will be my steady rule of action. 

In the discharge of my executive duties, I have known and will con- 
tinue to know " no party, no section, nothing but Kansas and my coun- 
try ", and any measured success I have attained here is due to my determi- 
nation to administer " equal and exact justice ". 

Fully conscious of all the difficulties surrounding my delicate and 
responsible mission and with the general prediction of failure, I entered 
upon it calmly and deliberately with no fear of failure so long as I was 
conscious of your cordial and energetic support. 

This feeling was necessary for my success, and my usefulness will be 
destroyed the moment this consciousness ceases. 

The removal of Judge Lecompte became a necessity and "public 
policy" will certainly justify it in the eyes of all right thinking men. 
His peculiar entanglement in Kansas afi"airs and his partizan feeling 
evinced on repeated occasions, destroyed his public usefulness and was a 
great obstacle in the way of the recognition of the authority of the courts. 
The collision between the Judge and myself must be judged in the light 
of its Kansas surroundings P' 

I deemed the act necessary (and upon the maturest reflection have 
no reason to change the opinion then formed,) to prevent the rescue of 
the Free-State prisoners and to preserve the peace of the territory. 

1 Isaac Winston, United States marshal for Kansas Territory. 

2 See "A Defense by Samuel D. Lecompte", in Kansas Historical Collections, 
1903-1904 (Vril, 389 ff.). See also ibiil., VII, 375, note. 

(350) 



OD 



Documents 



It will not do to apply the same rules to the government of an old, 
well regulated state and to a Territory just emerging from an insurrection, 
like a sleeping volcano ready to burst forth at any moment. An act 
done in the one may be harmless, while in the other it would produce 
an explosion. 

All eyes were upon me, and the moment I evinced the slightest com- 
plicity with either party, that moment the equilibrium was destroyed and 
the peace endangered. 

No arrests were supposed to be made without my agency, and all 
discharges were attributed to me, as I had really resurrected the civil 
authority. 

The discharge of Hayes," after his arrest, through my agency, at 
■once placed me in a false position, and public confidence would have 
been annihilated in the impartiality of my administration had I not 
immediately repudiated all connection with the imprudent action of the 
judge. 

There is a matter in this case which should have some weight in the 
question. The evidence before the Grand Jury was pointed to the fact 
that Hayes was the very man who committed the horrid act for which a 
pro-slavery Grand Jury found a true bill against him for murder in the 
first degree ; and of this I was advised when I ordered the arrest. 

The right to destroy i)roperty to prevent the spread of a conflagra- 
tion has been traced to the highest necessity and the natural rights of 
man independent of society or civil government. It is referred by 
moralists and jurists to the same great principle which justifies the exclu- 
sive appropriation of a plank in a shipwreck, though the life of another 
be sacrificed j with the throwing overboard goods in a tem]:)est for the 
safety of the vessel ; with the trespass upon the lands of another to 
escape death by an enemy. 

The common law adopts the principles of the natural law, and places 
the justification of an act otherwise tortious precisely upon the same 
ground of necessity. 

Actual or strong apparent necessity must exist as the sole ground of 
justification and the condiict of the individual must be regulated by his 
own judgment as to the exigencies of the case. 

Being the centre of almost hourly communication with every part of 
the territory, and occupying an independent and impartial position, I had 
access to sources of information entirely closed to others. My judgment 
imperatively demanded the course of action I adopted, and I would have 
been recreant to duty and self-convicted of all consequences, had I 
evinced hesitation. 

' Charles Hays, a member of the band of Kickapoo Rangers, found guilty by a 
grand jury of the murder of David C. Buffum near Lecompton, and discharged on bail 
by Chief Justice Lecompte. See John H. Gihon, Geary and Kansas ( Philadelphia, 
1866), 166-181, for a full though partizan account of this affair, showing the part taken by 
Pierce and Geary. .See also Charles Robinson, The Ka)isas Conflnt (New York, 1S92), 
339 and " A Defense by Samuel D. Lecompte", cited above. 



Some Papers of Franklin Pierce, 1852-1862 



03- 



The beneficial result of new and impartial officers will soon be 
apparent to the country in the general recognition of law and respect for 
the civil authority. 

I desire especially that all officers coming here should be impressed 
with the necessity of attending to their legitimate duties, entirely avoid- 
ing partizan affiliations, as the best means of securing the respect of the 

people. ^ , , u J 

Judge Cunningham^ and Mr. Winston = (neither of whom 1 had 
previously known,) seem to be "intelligent, thoroughly conservative 
and right minded men". The benefit of their presence is already 
apparent. I have heard favorable accounts of Messrs. Harrison' and 
Spencer.* I wish you would send them here as soon as possible. 

As I have always endeavored with all the ^lerritorial officers, so will I 
continue, to "cultivate kind relations with Judge Cato " ^although I 
re-ret that his associates have been anything but satisfactory. I am, 
however, happy to be able to say that I have less objection to him than 
to any of the old ofticers. 

Last Tuesday was the day fixed by the Topeka State Constitution for 
the meeting of the so-called Free-State Legislature. 

In my last dispatch to the State Department I mentioned the pre- 
cautionary measures which I had quietly taken in the matter. 

I had also confidential agents at Topeka and other places and had 
every assurance that no quorum would be present and that no business 
would 'be transacted in the slightest manner conflicting with the terri- 
torial government. Dr. Charles Robinson gave me assurances that he 
would resign his Governorship, which he accordingly did, and he was 
on his way to Boston upon the day of the meeting. W. Y. Roberts 
the Lt: -Governor, I was informed would not attend, and Mr. Klotz,' 

1 Thomas Cunningham, of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, appointed by Pierce No- 
vember 19, 1856, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Associate Justice J M. 
Burrell He was an active Democrat and one of the electors for Buchanan. After look- 
ing the ground over carefully, he resigned. Joseph Williams, of Iowa, was appointed as 
his successor, June 3, 1857. 

2 See note I, page 350. v, . . 

3C O Harrison, of Kentucky, nominated by Pierce November 17, 1856, to supei- 
sede Lecompte as chief justice, but not confirmed by the Senate, February 17, i^^S?- 
See Kanms Historical Collections, VII, 332, note. , , . t- 

* William Spencer, appointed by Pierce in 1856 as United States marshal of kansa. 
Territory to succeed Israel B. Donalson. Ibid., IV, 657. 

5 Sterling G. Cato, of Alabama, associate justice of the United States court for the 
territory of Kansas. See ibid., IV, 555 ff., VIII, 390, note. 

6 Colonel William Y. Roberts, of Pennsylvania. 

V Robert Klotz, of Pennsylvania, who reached Pawnee in December, 1854, and 
opened a hotel there, which, according to a local chronicler, usually had a niore ample 
stock of "fluids" than of "solids". He superintended the construction of the ou.ldmg 
erected for the use of the legislature. For some reason the early Kansas lawmakers 
boycotted his hotel. Klotz was a member of the Topeka Constitutional Convention of 
18=; ■; He later returned to Pennsylvania and was elected a member of the Forty-seventl. 
Congress Philip C Schuyler was secretary of state under the Topeka Constitution, and 
continued in this office until the dissolution of the Free-State organization. See Kansas 
Historiiol Colli', tioiis, VII, 372. 



353 Documents 

the Secretary of State, was in Pennsylvania. So you will perceive that 
I had but. little occasion for apprehension. 

To provide against all contingencies I had a reliable agent at Topeka, 
to give me early notice of all movements, determining to repair there in 
person in case my presence becam.e necessary. 

Certain officious gentlemen in this place, under the impression and 
with the wish that the Free-State men would resist as heretofore, and 
thus furnish a pretext for renewed excitement, and in pursuance of a 
scheme they had been nursing for a long time, through their agent Saml. 
J. Jones, Ex. Shff : of this County,' made an information before Judge 
Cato against some thirty-four members of the old Topeka Legislature for 
usurpation of office on the 4th of March, 1856. Judge Cato issued a 
warrant to Marshal Donaldson, whose Deputy, Pardee, proceeded alone 
to Topeka, arrested twelve persons without the slightest resistance and 
brought them to Tecumseh, where, waiving all examination, they were 
held to bail in their own recognizance in the sum of Five Hundred 
Dollars each. 

The intelligent action of these Free-State men in promptly submitting 
to the process of the Court entirely defeated this nefarious conspiracy to 
disturb the peace of the Territory, placed its actors in a ridiculous light 
and has excited a respect and sympathy for men heretofore regarded as 
fanatics. The Free-State men now understand their true policy to be in 
favor of peace, as even the color of disturbance here would prevent the 
immense spring emigration and they are fully resolved to furnish no 
pretext for disturbance. 

The object of the meeting at Topeka, as I am reliably informed, was 
to petition Congress for the repeal of the Kansas Statutes and the 
reorganization of the Territory upon the Organic act with such additional 
checks as the wisdom of Congress might suggest, and not to enact laws. 

Judge Cato in the strongest terms condemned it to me, but remarked 
in his own justification that "the information being made before him in 
due form by a responsible man, it was his duty to issue the warrant ". 

If this Topeka movement had not been noticed, it would have died 
a natural death, as they failed to secure a quorum, and this imprudent 
interference has furnished a plausible excuse for what would otherwise 
have been a gross failure. They will not lose so good an opportunity to 
write glowing letters, redolent with Kansas outrages and the violation of 
Constitutional rights. 

No real injury however to the interests of peace will result from this 
ridiculous faux pas. 

As I have informed you in former letters, there has almost from the 
first, been a combination here (the leaders of which are Genl. Calhoun, 
Sheriff Jones, with other lesser men at various points of this Territory, 
and having their headquarters in Westport) to defeat my policy and to 
create the impression that the existing peace is entirely illusive and with- 

' Douglas County. See ibid., ^'})'}„ note. 



Some Papers of Franklin Fierce, 18^2-1862 354 

out solid foundations. Various expedients have been devised to precipi- 
tate a collision between myself and the Pro-Slavery party and with this 
view the most lying rumors had been put in circulation and the boldest 
predictions of war proclaimed. 

The Convention that was to meet in Leavenworth, assembled here 
this evening, and before receiving the credentials of its members, a dis- 
cussion ensued whether the body was to be termed " law and order " or 
Pro-Slavery, and an amendment was carried that no person should be en- 
titled to a seat in the Convention unless he was in favoj- of snaking Kansas 
a Slave State. Genl. Clark, ^ Sheriff Jones, J. H. Stringfellow '-' and Jones ''* 
of the Lecompton Union were the principal speakers. The resolution 
was carried by few voices and met with no enthusiasm. 

The Legislature organized to-day and I expect to transmit my mes- 
sage as soon as I have proper notice of the organization. 

I will exhaust all the resources of circumspection and prudence in 
my official communications with parties in this Territory. I apprehend 
no difficulty. I am fully resolved that the spirit and intention of the 
Organic act shall be fairly carried out, and if needs be, I will use a vigor 
of action sufficient to awe conspirators and preserve the peace. 

With sentiments- of the highest respect, I remain, 

Your friend 

Jno. W. Geary. 

XIV. Pierce's Cabinet to Franklin Pierce (Copy). 

Washington 3 March, 1857. 
Sir : 

We are not willing to allow our common relation as members of your 
Cabinet to cease without communicating the sentiments which the retro- 
spect of intimate and long continued official association has left indelibly 
impressed on our minds. 

We have witnessed with satisfaction and respect the untiring devotion 
to the public service, — the most ardent zeal for the good of the country, 
— the purity of purpose, — and the scrupulous observance of constitu- 
tional principles which has been manifested by you at all times and in all 
circumstances. As the territory, population, wealth and power of the 
Union continue to increase, so, in the same proportion do the cares and 
responsibility of the administration of its government. Each successive 
presidential period brings with it new events of national importance and 

^George W. Clark, United States government agent for the Pottawatomie Indians. 
See letter of Geary, December 22, 1856, in tlie Rkvikw, October, 1904, 124-127. 
Kansas Historical Collections, VI, 63-64. 

^Captain John \l. Stringfellow, of Virginia, a brother of Dr. B. F. Stringfellow, 
and co-editor of the Squatter Savereii^n, which was established February 3, 1855, by 
J. II. Stringfellow and Robert S. Kelley, at Atchison. They sold it in 1857 to an asso- 
ciation of which Ex-Senator S. C. Porreroy was agent, find it became a Free. State paper. 
.See Kansas Histoi'ical Collections, VII, 331-332, note. 

^ A. W. Jones and C. A. Faris establislied the Lc omplon Union, May 3, 1850, as 
a pro slavery jiaper. 



355 Dociiincuts 

consequent collision of interest or convictions. Ours are institutions of 
free thought and speech. Every citizen participates in the conduct of 
public affairs, and in the scrutiny and the judgment of public men. He, 
therefore, who is highest in place and in functions, is, of necessity, pecu- 
liarly subject amid the prejudices and the passions of the hour to encounter 
blames when a better understanding of his motives and of his acts would 
ensure commendation. We who have seen you most and with the fullest 
opportunities of appreciation, know well how conscientiously you have 
discharged the high trust devolved upon you, and we confidently believe 
that, as time rolls on, the voice of impartial history will ratify our attesta- 
tion of the integrity and patriotism of your exercise of the executive power 
of the United States. 

We desire also to express our grateful sense of the dignified courtesy 
and considerate candor which has uniformly marked your deportment 
towards us, both in the consultations of the Cabinet and in the business 
of our respective Departments. This, while it has served to lighten our 
official labor, and facilitate its performance, has efficiently contributed to 
maintain a unity of administration, few examples of which occur in the 
annals of the Republic. 

With earnest regard and warm wishes for your health and happiness, 
We have the honor to be, 



Your sincere friends. 



W. L. Marcv 

JAMES GurHRIE 

Jefferson Davis 
j. c. dobhin 
R. McClelland 
James Campbell 
c. cushing. 



Franklin Pierce, 

President of the United States. 



XV. Franklin Pierce to Members of his Cabinet (Copy). 

Washington March 4, 1857. 
Gentlemen : 

Your uninterrupted manifestation of personal friendship for me, dur- 
ing the past four years leaves no occasion for reassurance of your cordial 
regard now that we are about to separate. 

I participate fully in the gratification which you express in refer- 
ence to our daily intercourse happily undisturbed by any element of 
discord and I shall ever hold in grateful appreciation the extent to which 
my most severe and perplexing official labors have been lightened by 
your unfailing and cheerful cooperation. 

It will, I am sure, be an agreeable recollection to us all, that what- 
ever else the Administration may have done or omitted to do, it has not 
sought applause by the adoption of temporising expedients, nor immu- 
nity from censure by the negative character of its policy and measures. 



Sonic Papers of Fran Jdin Pierce, 1852-1862 356 

The violent assaults which it has encountered on the one hand, and the 
zeal with which it has been defended on the other, are conclusive upon 
the point that it has been one of positive good, or positive evil. 

The exercise of the veto power on sundry occasions, involving, in 
some instances, large individual pecuniary interests, and in others ques- 
tions of public policy, of an exciting character; the discussion in annual 
and special messages of controverted constitutional principles and of the 
rights of the States under our system, have undeniably been a fruitful 
source of complaint and vituperation. These were matters which alone 
could be determined by my own conscience and judgment and in the re- 
sponsibility of which no one could participate. 

You may I think recur to the condition of the country during the 
four years now about to close. It has concededly been a period of gen- 
eral prosperity ; defalcation on the part of federal officers has been almost 
entirely unknown ; the public treasury, with more than $20,000,000 con- 
stantly on hand, has been free from the touch of fraud or peculation ; 
long pending foreign questions have been amicably and advantageously 
adjusted ; valuable additions have been made to our already vast domain ; 
and peace has been maintained with all the nations of the earth and with- 
out compromise of right or a stain upon the national honor. 

Whatever of credit pertains to the Federal Executive in the accom- 
plishment of these results, is attributable in great measure, to the fidelity, 
laborious habits and ability of the heads of the different Departments. 

In my final retirement from active participation in public affairs I 
shall observe the career which awaits you individually, with the interest 
of constant and unabated friendship. 

Your friend, 

Franklin Pierce. 

Hon. Wm. L. Marcy 

" James Guthrie 

'' Jefferson Davis 

" Jas C. Dobbin 

" Robt McClelland 

" James Campbell 

" Caleb Cushing. 

XVI. General G. T. Beauregard to Franklin Pierce. 

New Orleans, March 5th, 1857 
My dear General : 

Permit a sincere friend upon your retirement from the Presidential 
chair to congratulate you on the prosperous and favorable condition in 
which you leave the country and the Government to your successor, not- 
withstanding all the troubles and obstacles arising from the excitement 
of the worst passions of the worst parts of our population you had to 
contend with. 

Let your opponents, enemies and false friends croak as they will. 
History will give you ample credit for the ability firmness and fearless- 



357 Documents 

ness you have displayed in the execution of your always responsible, and 
at times very trying, duties. We of the South are or should be, everlast- 
ingly grateful to you for the majily and independent course you adopted 
when our sacred rights were about being trampled upon by an unscrupu- 
lous and insolent majority in the lower House of Congress. 

Shall we not have ere long the honor of a visit from you and your 
estimable Lady? We would be proud and happy to be able to extend to 
you both the Hospitalities of our good city. 

That you may find in your retirement all the comforts and enjoy- 
ments you are both so deservedly entitled to, is the hope and prayer of, 
my dear General, 

Your most sincere friend and seiv't, 

G. T. Beauregard. 
General Franklin Pierce, 

Ex-president of the U. States, 
Washington, D. C. 

XVn. Jefferson Davis to Franklin Pierce. 

Briersfield Mi. July 23, 1857. 
My dear friend. 

I had intended to have written to you some time since, but when I 
returned from Jackson where our state convention met in the latter part 
of June, I found my little boy quite sick and, as soon as he was able to 
travel, hurried off to the sea-coast of Missi. where I left my wife and the 
children for the summer. Little Jeff was well and Maggie and Mrs. Davis 
in better health than when they left home. 

During the session of the Convention a resolution was introduced 
censuring Gov. R. J. Walker.^ An amendment w^as offered to include 
Presidt. Buchanan, and a member^ proposed to extend the censure to 
you; on the ground that he had learned from the U. S. Dist. Atty., 
Isaacs,^ that you had made appointments for Kanzas with the design of 
aiding the free-soilers and had sent out agents charged with your views 
to oppose the introduction of slavery into that territory. I replied, when 
subsequently called on to address the Convention. First stating what 
had been reported to me, for I was not present when the remarks were 
made and asking if I had been correctly informed. Upon being an- 
swered in the affirmative I proceeded in terms less polite than just to 
pronounce the statement untrue. An animated conversation ensued and 
the position was changed to the statement that Mr. Isaacs had told him 
(Mr. Archer) that certain persons Avho had come to Kanzas stated your 
wish to be that Kanzas should be a free State. After ridiculing a charge 
based upon the report of unknown persons of a conversation held with 
another at a remote time and place, I said that of your personal prefer- 

1 Robert James Walker, of Mississippi, appoiiUed by Ijiicbanan March 10, 1857, 
as governor of Kansas, to succeed (Jeary. 

^ Archer. 

^See No. XII., Geary to Pierce, December 22, 1S56 Ami rican Historical Re- 
view, X, 124-127, October, 1904. 



Sonic Papers of Franklin Pierce, 1852-1862 358 

ences it was not for me to speak, nor in the present connection for them 
to inquire but that he who charged you with using your executive func- 
tions to aid the free-soilers in Kanzas uttered a slanderous falsehood, 
which years of friendship and an intimate knowledge of your opinions 
authorized me to denounce. 

I said that Northern Democrats generally feared the political effect 
of a pro-slavery constitution in Kanzas, that Southern Democrats had not 
claimed that Northern Democrats should concur in their abstract opinions 
in relation to African slavery, that he who recognized the rights we have 
under the Constitution had done all which was essential, and when as in 
your case his cordial support of those rights had brought upon him the 
combined batteries of all our enemies that he was entitled to the support 
of southern men, and instead of carping criticisms, to unstinted com- 
mendation and unqualified approval. Mr. Archer is an extreme man, of 
high personal respectability and great tenacity of purpose. He an- 
nounced toward the close of the altercation that he would write to Mr. 
Isaacs, and said he had been an ardent friend and suporter of yours until 
he felt you. were not sincere, and that the report of certain persons had 
been strengthened by the character of the governors sent to Kanzas by you. 

The Convention was so entirely on my side that Mr. A. had little 
attention and no support, and but for the threat to sustain his allegations 
by writing to Mr. Isaacs and the possibility that the public would hear 
of the matter again, I would not have disturbed you with this recital. 
I'he attempt to make a distinction between you and myself was rejected 
and with happy effect. I think the motive was friendship for Walker, 
not hostility to you, and beyond the irritation of the occasion will not 
be visited upon me. I add the last lest some report of a [word illegible] 
correspondent should lead you to think otherwise. 

Mrs. Davis and myself speculate on the chances of meeting Mrs. 
Pierce and yourself again. We were much gratified to hear of her im- 
proved health and trust a southern winter will confirm it. Your many 
friends in this region expect a visit from you. 

I thank you for your speech in Faneuil Hall, it was quoted by me in 
my speech at Jackson. Your mode of saving the Union is substantially 
the same as that proposed by Calhoun in his last speech in the Senate, a 
concurrence which was hailed by the State's Rights Democracy, which 
means all from whom you could accept anything in this community. 
With love to Mrs. Pierce, I am as ever 
Your friend, 

Jeffn. Davis. 
Presdt. Franklin Pierce. 

XVIII, Chief Justice R. B. Taney to Franklin Pierce. 
FouQUiER White Sulphur Springs, Aug. 29, 1857. 
My Dear Sir : 

You will see by the date of this letter that I am again at the place 
where I had the pleasure of meeting you last summer, and I have met 



359 Documents 

here again our old friend Mr. Taylor. We talk about you and Mrs. 
Pierce when we meet, and when the mails come I look to see if the news- 
papers say anything as to your whereabouts or of the health of Mrs. Pierce 
and yourself. The last accounts represented you as in good health and 
Mrs. Pierce as improving. I hope the report is true as to both. 

You see I am passing through another conflict, much like the one 
which followed the removal of the deposits, and the war is being waged 
upon me in the same spirit and by many of the same men who distin- 
guished themselves on that occasion by the unscrupulous means to which 
they resorted. 

At my time of life when my end must be near, I should have enjoyed 
to find that the irritating strifes of this world were over, and that I was 
about to depart in peace with all men and all men in peace with me. 
Yet perhaps it is best as it is. The mind is less apt to feel the torpor 
of age when it is thus forced into action by public duties. And I have 
an abiding confidence that this act of my judicial life^ will stand the test 
of time and the sober judgment of the country, as well as the political act 
of which I have spoken. 

Your successor has I think, a difficult time before him. Symptoms 
of discord are already appearing. Feeling as I do the necessity of cordial 
union among the friends of the administration in order to prevent the 
government from falling to pieces, I am unwilling to find fault with the 
present administration even when I cannot approve. Yet I must say to 
you that I deeply regret the adoption of the principle of rotation in 
office. 

Its inevitable consequence will be to multiply the number of political 
adventurers and trading politicians who are always ready to sacrifice the 
public interests for their own individual profit, and our elections instead 
of being contests for principles will in a short time become contests for 
the emoluments of office, and influenced by mere mercenary motives. 
The removal of persons who are opposed to the Administration by seek- 
ing to displace it, stands on a very different principle. Indeed I never 
could comprehend how a man of right principles and right feeling could 
consent to hold an office under persons whom he thought it his duty to 
oppose and was endeavoring to turn out. But the principle adopted by 
the present administration is a very different one; is now, for the first 
time, brought into the Government and will, I fear, do great mischief 

I shall return to Washington about the 15th or 20th of September, 
and hope that at some leisure moment you will let me hear from you. 
And with my best regards to Mrs. Pierce, I am, dear sir, most respect- 
fully and truly. 

Your friend and servt., 

R. B. Taney. 
General Franklin Pierce, 

Concord, New Hampshire. 

P. S. Mr. Taylor, having understood that I was about writing you, 
requests me to send his best regards. 

1 The Dred Scott decision. 



Some Papers of Franklin Pierce, 18^2—1862 360 

XIX. Jefferson Davis to Franklin Pierce. 

Washington, D. C. Jany. 17, 1859. 
My deal' friend. 

Your letter relieved [nie] of an anxiety created by the absence of any 
recent intelligence concerning you. We are dragging on here in a man- 
ner significant of no good to the country. Each day renders me more 
hopeless of effecting anything for the present or prospective benefit of 
the country by legislation of Congress. Even more than heretofore 
Members and Senators represent extreme opinions and may increase, but 
cannot allay, the ferment which gave to them political life. I am grati- 
fied by the view you take of my New England tour. The abolitionists 
and the disunionists combined to assail me for the speeches made there. 
I hope the Southern assailants have been scotched and the others may 
rail on to their content. That tour convinced me that the field of use- 
ful labor is now among the people and that temperate, true men could 
effect much by giving to the opposite section the views held by the other. 
The difference is less than I had supi)osed. 

Your old friends in Missi have not forgotten you and are ready to 
show their appreciation of you on the first occasion. Many said to me that 
your renomination for the Presidency was their first wish and best hope. 

Mrs. Davis was quite happy in our sojourn in Maine and at Boston 
but often wished it could have been possible to have found Mrs. Pierce 
at home. Our children have grown rapidly and the little girl is now 
quite a companion to me when at evening I go home to forget the past 
and postpone the future. 

Clay ' and Fitzpatrick '' were happy to find you still remembered them 
and both said they would write to you. I will send you some papers 
which I hope may be more fortunate in their journey than were those of 
last year. 

Please give my kindest regards to Mrs. Pierce of whom we speak 
often and to whose return we look with affectionate solicitude. You may 
scold me roundly as I deserve for not writing to you more regularly, but 
do not I pray you fail to give me credit for good resolves and do let me 
hear from you as often as your convenience will allow. 

As ever your friend, 

Jeff" Davis. 

XX. Jefferson Davis to Franklin Pierce. 

Oakland, Allegheny Co., Md, Sept. 2, 1859. 
My dear friend, 

I am rejoiced to know that you are again at home and to learn 
from your remarks at Boston that Mrs. Pierce is in better health. 

Your letter from England^ was not received until after the date on 
which you directed me to write to you at London. I consequently 

1 Clement Claiborne Clay, elected United States senator from Alabama, 1853, re- 
elected in 1859, withdrew 1861. Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography. 
^ Benjamin Fitzpatrick, United States senator from Georgia. I/>id. 
3 Where he had gone for the benefit of .Mrs. Pierce's health in the spring of 1858. 



361 Doaunents 

waited to hear further of your movements. We are here because of Mrs. 
Davis' feeble health. She has not been well since last winter and this 
place was selected because of mountain retreats it was the most accessible. 
I returned from Missi. near to the last of July and have been seriously 
ill, though now free of disease my strength has not been restored and 
there is constant apprehension of a relapse. Please give our love to Mrs. 
Pierce and assure her of our constant solicitude and desire to see her. 
Maggie says she remembers you both and always loves you. Jeff is nearly 
as large as Maggie and very stout. The infant (Joe) is more like Maggie 
than Jeff. I hope we shall have the satisfaction of submitting them all 
to your inspection at some future day and I will [not] trouble you now 
with a description impartial though it would naturally be. Will you 
make your once contemplated visit to the South this winter? 

In reference to your views of your political position I will say that I 
do not think you are called upon to make any disclaimer in relation to 
the Charleston Convention. You would not under any circumstances 
seek the nomination and I hope you will not obstruct the wish of your 
friends, should circumstances indicate it, to use your name for the 
nomination.' 

In Missi. I am sure you are preferred above all others. The reason 
is two-fold: first it is personal, which includes attachment and confi- 
dence, second it arises from the fact that the opposition to your 
administration was of a kind which would make the issue between the 
Abolitionists and the friends of the Constitution as distinct as the most 
ultra pro-slavery man could render it, without the draw-back which may 
be felt on account of the fiction just now prevalent that the South desires 
to reopen the African slave trade and to enact a slave code by Congress 
to be enforced in the Territories, by federal power. 

The decency and good sense of the people must revolt against the 
low chicanery by which the Presidency is sought by certain ambitious 
demagogues and the reaction will be favorable to a gentleman whose 
self-respect and respect for the people have led him to withdraw from 
public notice rather than obtrude himself upon the popular attention as 
a candidate for the Presidency, an office which you will doubtless agree 

' There are among the Pierce papers several letters from prominent politicians of the 
period in which inquiry is made as to the availability of Pierce as a candidate before the 
Charleston Convention of i860. Some writers merely express the hope that I'ierce will 
accept a renomination. Others warmly urge him to that course upon the ground that he 
is the only man who can unite the Northern and Southern wings of the party and s^ve 
the Union. 

On September 22, 1859, in a letter writtfen from Andover, Mass., to Eli S. Shorter of 
Eufala, Alabama, Pierce said : " I feel . . . that my public life is closed and have not a 
single lingering desire that it should be otherwise. This and more my friends at the 
North fully understand. They know that it would annoy me if I believed that my name 
could come before the Charleston Convention under any possible combination of circum- 
stances. Although some of my warm personal friends have been elected delegates in 
Maine and Massachusetts and more probably will be in New England, I have reason to 
believe that they will regard ray wishes in this relation." 

AM. HIST. REV., VOL. X. — 24. 



Some Papers of FranJdin Pierce, 18^2-1862 362 

with me, can never be properly filled by one who has sought it in the 
mode and by the means known as electioneering. 

Until we meet I will hope to hear from you often. Not knowing 
wher-e to send this if you shall have left Boston I will request that it be 
fordd. to you. With best wishes I am as ever very truly yr friend 

Jeff^! Davis. 
Excy. F. Pierce 

XXI. Franklin Pierce to H. D. Pierce.' 

Clarendon Hotel City of New York Dec' 21, 1S59 

My dear Bi'otJier — 

I hope you will feel a sufficient interest in us to desire to know how 
we have progressed thus far on our journey. 

After three or four weeks with our friends (the Masons) in Boston 
very agreeably, we made pleasant visits of a week at Hartford and a week 
at New Haven. 

On Wednesday last we came to this City where we will remain till 
this day week, (Saturday Jan-'' 7"') when we propose to embark for Nassau 
in the Island of New Providence, one of the Bahama group. The climate 
is represented to be very fine and we shall in the absence of bad weather 
or bad luck reach the Island in four days. Frank had better find it on 
the map and thus get a distinct idea of our geographical location. I am 
sorry to say that in my intercourse with residents of this city or with 
people casually here I have found nothing to quiet my apprehensions 
with regard to the serious dangers which threaten the Union. Orders for 
merchandize and for various articles of manufacture are being constantly 
countermanded by the Southern people, social intercourse between the 
North and the South and business arrangements also are being seriously 
disturbed — and if the interruption becomes much more complete, pol'tical 
relations cannot long be maintained. What the effect even of this inter- 
ruption must be upon New England which depends to so great an extent 
upon the intelligent application of ingenuity and industry to the mechanic 
arts no well informed man can fail to foresee and no man whether well 
informed or not will fail to feel. Disasterous as disruption would be to 
all portions of the Country the blow will fall most heavily upon New 
England so far as property and prosperity are concerned. Prosperity ! 
there would be none, and property not enough to talk about. I5ut after 
all the prostration of material interests would constitute but one of the 
most inconsiderable elements in the general disaster. Under existing 
circumstances I dej)lore the necessity, which calls me away from home. 
The Union meetings^ are well so far as they go and for the present. But 

1 His brother, of Hillsboro, New Hampshire. 

2 The Boston Daily Courier for Friday, December 9, 1859, in giving an account of 
the Union meeting in Faneuil Hall on the preceding evening, prints a long and interesting 
letter of Pierce to the Executive Committee of Boston Citizens, dated Concord, December 
7, 1859, giving his opinion of the John IJrown raid and of Abolition sentiment concerning 
the raid. Soon afterward Clark, Fellows, and Company, of Boston, reprinted the Conner 
of December 9 as a pamphlet, with an edition of 5,000 copies. A copy of this letter in 
Pierce's handwriting is among the Pierce papers. 



^6^ Documents 

if we cannot wrest political power from the hands of fanatical sectional- 
ism, the speeches which have been made, the letters which have been 
written and the resolutions which have been passed will not be worth the 
paper on which they have been printed. If, for instance, sectionalism is 
still to be dominant in N. H. and Connecticut when ihe only elections are 
to be held next spring, the South will and may well take such results as 
indicating that men, who mean to obey the Constitution in all its parts 
not of one party, but of different parties have made an earnest struggle 
for the right and were yet powerless. Can our people be roused to a sense 
of duty and obligation before it is too late. Time alone can determine. 
I shall write you again upon this subject and make some suggestions with 
regard to your property and business. In the mean time bring the latter 
into as narrow a compass and into a condition of perfect security, as you 
can — and make no new purchases or contracts. You can show this letter 
to Judge Potter' and to Genl. and John McNeiP but to nobody else. 

Love to y. wife and the boys. 

V affec' Brother 

FR.4NKLIN Pierce 

P. S. Do not fail to write me the day you receive this and direct to 
this City. I have no time to reread and you may find it necessary to sup- 
ply words but you will I hope make out the sense and mind it. 



XXII. Jefferson Davis to Franklin Pierce. 

Senate Chamber, Jan'y. 30, i860. 
My dear friend, 

We are yet as when you sailed talking in the Senate and wrangling 
for organization in the House. There is a belief that Smith ^ an old line 
Whig of North Carolina will be elected, but so many chickens have been 
counted from eggs which proved addled that I have no confidence in the 
prophecies of the House. 

Govr. Dana of Me. is still here and much concerned lest our party 
should be divided at Charleston. I have not been able to show him 
how the question can be adjusted by "resolution", but have told him 
of the only way I have seen and which is that of nominating the man 
who will be accepted by both sections without a platform. 

Yesterday we had our youngest boy christened Joseph Evans and 
wished we could have had you and Mrs. Pierce to wish a " God speed " 
on the journey of life. 

Nicholson of Tenn.* is reading a speech need I say on what, do we 
ever speak of anything but that over which we have no control, slavery 
of the negro. 

1 Judge C. E. Potter of New Hampshire, a relative of tlie President by marriage. 

2 John H. McNeil, a brother-in-law of Pierce. 

3 Representative William N. H. Smith. 
■• Senator Alfred O. P. Nicholson. 



3^5 Doniments 

more and are disposed to rush- blindly on dangers which they feel are at 
hand but do not appreciate ; others see in the crisis only the vulgar 
struggle of the ins and outs, and have no fear of a catastrophe ; whilst a 
few are willing to abandon the government to get rid of men who are 
unfaithful to it. 

I have never seen the country in so great danger, and those who 
might protect it seem to be unconscious of the necessity. If our little 
grog-drinking, electioneering Demagogue' can destroy our hopes, it must 
be that we have been doomed to destruction. 

Hoping soon to see you and in the meantime to hear from you fully, 
I am, as ever Cordially your friend, 

Jeffn. Davis. 
To Presidt. F. Pierce. 

XXIV. A Letter of Pierce on the Secession Movement. - 

Concord, N, H., Nov. 23, i860. 
My Dear Sir. 

I, have just received your letter of the 21st and sympathize with all 
you say with regard to the inestimable value of the Union. By letters, 
by speeches, in private conversation, I have uttered for more than twelve 
years words of warning against the heresies which have swept over the 
North and culminated in the enactment of laws which are directly in the 
the teeth of the clear provisions of the Constitution, in eleven slates. 

But you know how futile have been all patriotic counsels. I have 
desired to do just what you suggest, but the difficulty is to see just what 
as an honest man I can say. 

I have never desired to survive the wreck of the Union. With sub- 
mission to the Providence of God, I do not desire to live to see the day 
when the flag of my country, with all its stars in their places, will not 
float at home and abroad. But when you ask me to interpose, then 
comes this paralyzing fact that if I were in their places, after so manv 
years of unrelenting agression, I should probably be doing what they 
are doing. 

It is not the election of Mr. Lincoln, per se, which has caused this 
emphatic movement at the South. That election is beyond all doubt 
Constitutional, but the people of the Southern States look beyond it to 
see, if they can, what it implies. They see the great and powerful state 
of Massachusetts electing by 35000 majority a man who justified the 
armed invasion of Virginia last year\: and they believe that the people 
of Massachusetts are acting deliberately. They see Mr. Lincoln elected 
and they take his election as an endorsement of his opinion that we can- 
not go on as we are, but must in the end be all free or all slave states. 
Foolish, absurd and groundless as this view is and will always stand, the 

' Douglas. 

^ This letter is in the handwriting of Pierce, is unsigned and unaddressed, and bears 
the indorsement, "Copy of letter not sent." 

3 Governor John A. Andrew. 



Some Papers of Franklin Pierce, 18^2-1862 364 

The prospect for our country is not less gloomy than when you left. 
The condition in which Genl. Gushing said men should provide for 
storm seems to be rapidly approaching. I will stand by the flag and up- 
hold the Constitution whilst there is possibility of effecting anything to 
preserve and perpetuate the govt, we inherited — beyond that my duty 
and my faith binds me to Mississippi and her fortunes as she may shape 
them. I hope on for the kind providence that has preserved us here- 
tofore, and still labor at my [post ?] as a member of the general govt. 

Please present ray kindest remembrances and most friendly wishes to 
Mrs. Pierce. 

Mrs. Davis would I know join me in these expressions of affection to 
Mrs. Pierce and also to yourself. 

Hoping to hear from you often, I am as ever, truly yrs. 

^ . . T- T^. Teffn. Davis. 

Presidt. F. Pierce. ■' 

XXIII. Jefferson Bavis to Frankun Pierce. 

Washington D. C. June 13, i860. 
My dear General, 

Your welcome letter of the nth inst. relieved me of speculation of 
your whereabouts as I have seen it stated in the newspapers that you were 
about to go directly to New Hampshire, but had not found a verification 
of the statement. It grieves me beyond expression to learn that Mrs. 
Pierce is ill and Mrs. Davis joins me in expression of our sympathy and 
affectionate regard. 

We all deplore the want of unanimity as to the candidates among our 
Southern friends and I do not see any satisfactory solution of the diffi- 
culty. The darkest hour precedes the dawn and it maybe that light will 
break upon us when most needed and least expected. 

If your hope should be realized as to the action of the N. E. and 
N. Y. delegation in relation to the delegates to be admitted from the 
South, it will have a good effect, if they should otherwise decide in favor 
of the spurious delegates, the Democratic party will become historic. 

Our people will support any sound man, but will not vote for a 
" squatter sovereignty " candidate any more than for a " free-soiler ". 

If northern men insist upon nominating Douglas, we must be beaten 
and with such alienation as leaves nothing to hope for in the future of 
nationality in our organization. 

I have urged my friends to make an honest effort to save our party 
from disintegration as the last hope of averting ruin from the country. 
They would gladly unite upon you, or Dallas and would readily be 
brought to any one of like character and record. 

I urged upon Mr. Minot ^ before he went to Charleston the evil efi"ect 
of permitting N. H. to be mustered under the banner of Douglas, but it 
was of no avail. Matters are now more complicated and men are more 
unreasonable. Some are unwilling to go into the Convention at Balti- 

1 James Minot, formerly Pierce's law partner, and later his executor. 



Sojuc Papers of Franklin Pierce, i8 52-1862 366 

South takes his election as an endorsement of resistance to the law for the 
return of fugitives from service of 185 i, and of the other heresy broadly 
promulgated by him and Mr. Seward, referred to above, of an " irre- 
pressible conflict ". 

If our fathers were mistaken when they formed the Constitution, if 
time has proved it, the sooner we are apart the better. I think it is all 
false, all wrong. I have tried to make other people believe it, but in 
vain.' How can I urge the men of the South to take a view I should not 
take if I were there, a view which I do not take as a northern citizen 
with all I have at slake here. It is vain to talk about eloquence and 
appeals. Action, immediate action, on the part of the northern states 
which have nullified the Constitution is what is wanted and just what we 
cannot have. Is it not Mr. Wilson' who said his heel was upon the neck 
of the South and [who is] accepted everywhere by the people of Massa- 
chusetts ? Is not Mr. Sumner, who has said more offensive things than 
that, equally accepted and applauded? Both are true — all is true, 
which they allege with regard to our agressions on their Constitutional 
rights. 

XXV. Jefferson Davis to Franklin Pierce. 

Washington, D. C, Jany. 20, 1861.. 
My dear frietid : 

I have often and sadly turned my thoughts to you during the troub- 
lous times through which we have been passing and now I come to the 
hard task of announcing to you that the hour is at hand which closes my 
connection with the United States for the independence and union of 
which my Father bled, and in the service of which I have sought to 
emulate the example he set for my guidance. 

Mississippi not as a matter of choice but of necessity, has resolved 10 
enter on the trial of secession. Those who have driven her to this alter- 
native threaten to deprive her of the right to require that her govern- 
ment shall rest on the consent of the governed, to substitute foreign 
force for domestic support, to reduce a state to the condition from which 
the colony arose. In the attempt to avoid the issue which had been 
joined by the country, the present administration has complicated and 
precipitated the question. Even now if the duty " to preserve the pub- 
lic property " was rationally regarded, the probable collision at Charles- 
ton would be avoided. Security far better than any which the federal 
troops can give might be obtained in consideration of the little garrison 
at Fort Sumpter. If the disavowal of any purpose to coerce So. Ca. be 
sincere, the possession of a work to command the harbor is worse than 

useless. 

When Lincoln comes in he will have but to continue in the path of 
his predecessor to inaugurate a civil war and leave a soi-disant democratic 
administration responsible for the fact. General Cushing^ was here last 
week and when we parted it seemed like taking a last leave of a Brother. 

1 Henry Wilson, colleague of Charles Sumner, as senator from Massachusetts. 
^ Caleb Cashing. 



367 Documents 

I leave immediately for Mississippi and know not what may devolve 
upon me after my return. Civil war has only horror for me, but what- 
ever circumstances demand shall be met as a duty and I trust be so dis- 
charged that you will not be ashamed of our former connection or cease 
to be my friend. 

I had hoped this summer to have had an opportunity to see you and 
Mrs. Pierce and to have shown you our children. Mrs. Davis was sorely 
disappointed when we turned southward without seeing you. I believe 
she wrote Mrs. Pierce in explanation of the circumstances which pre- 
vented us from executing our cherished plan of a visit to you when we 
should leave West Point. 

Mrs. Davis joins me in kind remembrance to Mrs. Pierce and the 
expression of the hope that we may yet have you both at our country 
home. Do me the favor to write me often. Address Hurricane P. O., 
Warren County, Miss. 

May God bless you is ever the prayer of your friend 

Jeffn. Davis. 
President F. Pierce. 



XXVI. Franklin Pierce to Bishop Carlton Chase. ^ 

HiLLSBORO, May 6, 1861. 
My dear Sir, 

The perusal of your cordial note of the 22nd. inst. afforded me great 
satisfaction. The condition of our country, superinduced to a great ex- 
tent by the wrong and persistent moral aggression of the North, but to a 
still greater extent by the arrogant rashness of the South, is to the last 
degree deplorable. What is to become of the republic, seems to me, to 
be beyond the grasp of human wisdom. 

We cannot subjugate the Southern States, if we would. The idea 
that they can subjugate the Northern, Middle and Northwestern States, 
is simply preposterous. And yet in the face of these propositions, to 
which all intelligent minds assent, the masses of the jjeople on both sides 
are apparently hurried forward against the plainest dictates of reason and 
humanity, as if stricken with judicial madness. 

I enjoy the memories which you express of my venerated father and 
reciprocate your desire for the honest grasp of the hand, especially in a 
time like this. 

I am glad our hearts, and if need be, our hands, are likely to go to- 
gether in the fearful emergency which confronts us. The loss of life is 
much. The want of those who depend for their daily bread upon their 
daily labor is much. The loss of property, so far as I am concerned, is 
nothing. But the loss of my country — the overthrow of what I esteem 
the last hope of civil liberty is fearful. 

1 Episcopalian bishop, consecrated first bishop of New Hampshire in 1844. Was 
rector for twentj-four years in Bellows Falls, Vt. ; later was rector in Claremont, N. H. 



Sonic Papers of Franklin Pierce, 1 8 52-1862 368 

If I can I will, in a week or two see you at Claremont. If this may 

not be 

Believe me truly, Your friend. 

Bishop Carlton Chase, Franklin Pierce. 

Claremont, N. H. 

XXVII. Chief Justice R. B. Taney to Franklin Pierce. 

Washington June 12, 1861. 

My dear sir : 

I left Baltimore before your kind letter reached that city and it has 

been forwarded to me here. 

Your cordial approbation of my decision in the case of the Habeas 
Corpus has given me sincere pleasure. In the present state of the public 
mind inflamed with passion and seeking to accomplish its object by force 
of arms, I was sensible of the grave responsibility which the case of J hn 
Merryman cast upon me. But my duty was plain— and that duty re- 
quired me to meet the question directly and firmly, without evasion — 
whatever might be the consequences to myself. 

The paroxysm of passion into which the country has suddenly been 
thrown, appears to me to amount almost to delirium. I hope that it is 
too violent to last long, and that calmer and more sober thoughts will 
soon take its place : and that the North, as well as the South, will see 
that a peaceful separation, with free institutions in each section, is far 
better than the union of all the present states under a military govern- 
ment, and a reign of terror preceded too by a civil war with all its hor- 
rors, and which end as it may will prove ruinous to the victors as well as 
the Vanquished. But at present I grieve to say passion and hate sweep 
everything before them. 

Accept, dear sir, the highest respect and best wishes of 

Your friend and servt. 

R. B. Taney. 

Franklin Pierce, Ex-President of the U. S. 
Concord, New Hampshire. 

XXVIII. Franklin Pierce to Honorable James A. Pearce.' 

Concord N. H. January 15. 1862 
My dear Sir — 

I read with unusual interest and satisfaction, the debate, which 
occurred in the Senate on the 16"'/ ul.'., upon the resolution of Mr Trum- 
bull,= and desire to express my thanks for the sentiments and thoughts, 
which the occasion elicited from you. 

1 Senator from Maryland. 

20n December 12, 1861, I,yman Trumbull, senator from Illinois, introduced the 
following resolution : " Resolved, That the Secretary of State be directed to inform the 
Senate whether, in the loyal States of the Union, any person or persons have been arrested 
and imprisoned and are now held in conHnement by orders from him or his Department ; 
and if so under what law said arrests have been made, and said persofis imprisoned." 
Congressional Globe, 37 Congress, 2 Session, Part I, 67. For the debat^ referred to, see 
ibid. , 90 ft'. / 



369 Docituicnts 

My convictions and sympathies are with you thoroughly, when you 
say, " I do not believe that it (imprisonment upon letires dc cachet) 
promotes the purposes of those, who desire to see this union brought 
together again, an object, to me, of all others the most desirable, if it be 
possible." In my estimation the mover of the enquiry deserves the 
gratitude of freemen everywhere, and only utters truth with force, when 
he declares, that, "the power, without charge, without examination, 
without opportunity of reply, at the click of the telegraph, to arrest a 
man in a peaceable portion of the Country and imprison him " is "of 
the essence of despotism." And yet, the public mind thus far, would 
seem to have been scarcely more roused, by current events of this char- 
acter, than it was years ago, when we received accounts of similar incar- 
cerations, ordered by the father, of the now deposed King of the Two 
Sicilies. How incredible it will appear hereafter, when history shall be 
written up, that at this period of the Republic, the constitutional safe- 
guards of personal liberty, could have been so easily and with so little 
apparent concern, swept away. 

The Secretary of State,' on the 20''' ul.'., four days after the debate in 
which you participated, addressed an official note to me, which serves to 
illustrate, in a striking manner, the slight grounds, or rather the ground- 
less suspicions, upon which, in these times, citizens are liable to suffer in 
reputation, if not in loss of liberty. I replied without delay, and so far 
as I am personally affected, may, I trust, well leave the matter, in quiet- 
ness, upon the files of the Department. It is my belief, however, that 
no recent measure, has been fraught with more mischief, than the issuing 
of lettres de cachet, and consequent arrests and imprisonments in viola- 
tion of the provisions of the Constitution ; and that the earlier the system 
is effectually checked, the better it will be, for the Government and the 
Country, as well as for the subjects of oppression. The evidence is 
abundant to show, that the plea of necessity, except in the presence or 
immediate neighbourhood of hostile armies, where the administration of 
law, under its usual forms, maybe inevitably suspended, is not graciously 
accepted by the mass of the people. Union, without security for per- 
sonal liberty, is not the Union, which they have cherished and to the 
restoration of which they look, with earnest desire and hope. Nothing, 
perhaps, could express more clearly their views, on this point, than the 
language of the great modern historian, who died, at a comparatively 
recent period, leaving his work incomplete. In tracing the successive 
steps in the progress of British liberty, he says, "We have been taught 
by long experience, that we cannot without danger, suffer any breach of 
the Constitution to pass unnoticed " — "As we cannot, without the risk 
of evils, from which imagination recoils, employ physical force as a check 
on misgovernment, it is evidently our wisdom to keep all constitutional 
checks on misgovernment in the highest state of efficiency, to watch with 
jealousy the first beginnings of encroachment, and never to suffer irregu- 

1 Seward. 



J 



Some Papers of Franklin Pierce, 18^2-1862 370 

larities, even when harmless in themselves, to pass unchallenged, lest they 
acquire the force of precedents." Who in our land will affirm, that any 
other doctrine is worthy of those, who hold their rights under a solemn 
written charter? It is cheering to know, that enquiry has been moved 
in the right quarter, and that able and fearless men are stirred by a sense 
of what is due to our fellow-citizens, who have been imprisoned, without 
assignment of cause and discharged without explanation ; and yet more 
to such as are still in confinement and, precluded by guards and prison 
doors from the privilege of the great writ of liberty, and thus from con- 
fronting, before a competent judicial tribunal, imputation, which the act 
of imprisonment itself implies. Of this latter class, I believe from my 
knowledge of the men, are not a few worthy sons of Maryland, who love 
the union, as you do, and who have striven, not to destroy, but to pre- 
serve it. If free from any taint of crime, as I take them to be, they will 
derive unfailing capacity for endurance, from consciousness, that they 
have never nourished their manly strength to strike stout blows at the 
foundations, which the fathers laid, that they have never participated in 
lines of action or in startling utterances calculated to encourage aggres- 
sion upon the rights and institutions of Sovreign States, to foster sectional 
distrust and animosity, or to inaugerate conflict between different parts 
of the Confederation, and thus to weaken unity of feeling, interest and 
purpose. If, on the other hand, they are guilty, the law will inflict 
adequate punishment, whatever that may be, as it should do. But how 
long is such durance, without a hearing, to be their allotment ? 

I am, very truly, 

Y.'; friend 

Franklin Pierce 
Hon James A. Pearce 
U. S. Senate 

Washington D. C. 



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